Rustic Farmhouse Painted Dresser Makeover

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We found this small dresser at a local thrift shop. We had been searching for an end table replacement in our living room to organize our clutter. This piece was the perfect candidate for a painted furniture makeover and we knew we wanted to give it a rustic farmhouse look.

When Mike first sent me a picture of this dresser I wasn’t too sure about it. It looked almost Asian style to me and I wasn’t sure how we would pull it off. But the price was right and Mike said the piece was sturdy. He has a great eye for seeing the end result, which I sometimes struggle with.

We had just redone a different end table with a knockoff Restoration Hardware finish and we both were digging the end result. We decided to practice this technique some more on this piece. It’s basically paint layered with glaze to give the finish more depth. This time we switched the order of the glaze and put on the dark first, then finished it with the light.

To start out Mike lightly sanded the wood down to rough up the surface and wiped it clean. Next he painted the whole piece with two coats of General Finishes in Driftwood with an angled brush. Once it was dry he lightly sanded the piece with 220 grit sandpaper to smooth it out.

Next he took Valspar Antiquing Glaze and mixed 1:5 with Floetrol. He applied it lightly with a foam brush, smoothing out the finish as he went.

After that dried he went over the piece with Valspar Limewax Glaze mixed 2:1 with Floetrol to give it more depth. Once dried he went over the piece with two coats of Minwax Matte Polyacrylic with a foam brush to protect it.

To finish it off he took the original handles and spray painted them with Rust-Oleum Universal All Surface Spray Paint in Oil Rubbed Metallic Bronze.The shape of these handles resembled a farmhouse style bin pull so we didn’t have to replace them. I actually wasn’t sure how they would turn out but they fit the piece perfectly.

I’m actually blown away at how great this piece turned out since I was so skeptical in the beginning. Changing up the hardware makes such a difference. Even though we used the original pulls, the contrasting color really helps the piece to feel modern now. Our clutter can now be hidden away and our living room has never looked tidier.